Valerian Root....anyone use this successfully?

[calliemaylily]

Has anyone used Valerian Root powder with cats to control their aggression?  It was suggested to me that it would be especially good at night (Hubby takes it to sleep and so we always have it in the house).  

Catnip does make Lily mellow for awhile, but not through the night.  

IF you have experience with Valerian, I'd love to hear about it.  (BTW, Feliway has been tried and did not work at all).

 

[2Cats4everLoved]

Hello, Valerian Root used to get my boy jacked up, he'd play hard then crash out for a long nap.

I used to open a capsule inside the bottle then take his toy, put it at the top of the open bottle and shake the powder  on it.

He'd go nuts over it, rub his face in it, lol it was pretty funny.  My girl is not affected by it at all.  

Good luck.

 

[calliemaylily]

Thanks, 2Cats.  I've been keeping a behavior log on my girls and as the barometric pressure changes, one of my girls gets REALLY aggressive.  I used catnip on her this time, but I may try valerian later.  During the day when I'm "stalking" her behavior is one thing.....at night when she's being aggressive on my BED is another thing entirely.  We put her in the pet cage, but she just screamed and cried and it made it worse. With our open house, putting her in a room alone doesn't work either, so I think I may try this BEFORE I need it again.

 

[2Cats4everLoved]

Just curious, when you say Open House, does that mean you're moving or do you have patio doors leading to the outside. LOL

How old are they.  You have two girls and just the one is aggressive?

If you're putting one in a cage at night and not the other that could be a problem for her.

Keep me posted I"m curious.

We love pictures... LOL  Would love to see them.

you're welcome happy to help.

 

[calliemaylily]

Sorry for the confusion...I meant open floor plan (of a sort).  We live in a 100+ year old farm house and there are no closed off rooms or levels.  It's all accessible pretty much all the time.  

The new girl, Lily, isn't quite one year yet and has had a really hard-knock life.  She's tame, but not quite domesticated like the other two.  She's also not quite a year....so she's boisterous.  She's gotten along really well with Baby May (who is super laid back), and she's been good for May.  May has a sluggish colon and the extra playtime has been good for her.  The older baby, Callie, was abused before she came to us, so she's not getting along with Lily at all.  She gets overwhelmed, especially before storms, and we knew that.  BUT...Lily seems to become aggressive before storms.  THEN, the storm hits, and she sleeps while the other two hide.  LOL.  Anyhow, it's been rough on Callie, but Lily needs to settle down at times.  

No amount of rip roaring play calms her down when she gets this way, so I've been using catnip.  It works pretty well, but her sleep is fleeting then it's "attack Callie" time.We were putting May and Callie in my daughter's room (one of the two rooms with a clickable door), and it didn't work well since Lily kept banging the door.  Then, we tried her room with Lily in a cage....NOPE.  Howling ensued.  Not good.

However, on days like now with no storms arising and no barometric pressure changes, it's not been too bad.   It's just NUTS sometimes. Here's the babies.  May is black/white; Callie is calico; Lily is black.

Baby May.jpg

• calliemaylily
• Oct 21, 2016

Callie on my pillow.jpg

• calliemaylily
• Oct 21, 2016

Screen Shot 2016-10-19 at 11.01.00 AM.png

• calliemaylily
• Oct 21, 2016

 

[jcat]

Valerian root is a stimulant for cats, just like catnip, so it won't make them sleepy, but the active play it stimulates might. More cats react to it than to catnip. You can use either the capsules or tea bags and hot water and steep soft toys in the solution (which will really smell!), then let them dry and store extras in plastic bags. For some reason, a lot of the cats at our shelter like to "drown" their Valerian toys in their water bowls, so be prepared for a mess!

 

[2Cats4everLoved]

So besides going nuts then crashing from the valerian root.  When I wanted to calm my boy down, one of his favorite games was playing in the tub.  

I'd take the laser light and go around in circles and he'd tire out.  Choose the end that doesn't have the fixtures.  You can get her alone in the bathroom, that way her loud playing doesn't upset the others.

Just an idea...

Love your little family, they're so cute.

 

[msserena]

I personally take valerian & always let the kitties smell it cause it makes them go wild! I used to grow it, it's more of a stimulant than a downer for them